Chapter 23 [VIP]

The word '哄' (hǒng) lies between sincerity and perfunctoriness, inherently possessing a subtle balance. Its peculiarity lies in condensing complex actions into a single, gentle syllable, like a pebble thrown into a calm autumn lake. There are no towering waves, but tiny ripples spread silently, gently touching every corner. And so, the millennia-old silence at the bottom of the lake suddenly breathes anew.

Xu Xing was speechless, a surge of impulse rising within him. He wanted to see how the other person would coax him.

"Let's go."

"Huh?" Jiang Zhuochen was caught off guard by the sudden question.

"I'm done with work for today, I have time from now on." Xu Xing waved the tickets in his hand. "Weren't you going to take me inside to play?"

"Yes." Jiang Zhuochen felt relieved. He took a big gulp of milk tea, and his expression brightened. "It's my treat today, you can do whatever you want."

Xu Xing found the way this little money-grubber was making such a promise amusing, so he controlled his expression and gave a cool "hmm."

"So what if he's angry?" Jiang Zhuochen thought to himself. "Let's see what he does next."

Upon entering the park, he kept Zhao Li's advice in mind and reminded himself to strictly implement it.

Since this was the first time in Jiang Zhuochen's life that he had encountered such a wide variety of entertainment facilities, he took every one that came his way and dragged Xu Xing along to play with him.

The carousel exit ahead was letting passengers out. Taking advantage of the low crowd, he casually tapped Xu Xing on the shoulder. "What's that? Why is a ceramic horse in a pumpkin cage? Come on, I'll go play with you."

Xu Xing looked over and saw that the pumpkin shape cut in half was actually a decoration for the venue. The carousel inside had also become more luxurious in keeping with the occasion, with miniature colorful lights and crystal ornaments hanging on the top and iron bars.

He remained silent, offering no comment on Jiang Zhuochen's offer to "play along." But since the other party was so enthusiastic, he simply went along.

Jiang Zhuochen climbed onto the rocking horse and noticed out of the corner of his eye that Xu Xing sat on the inside of him, his face slightly turned inward, which Jiang Zhuochen interpreted as reluctance.

He crossed his arms and puffed out half of his cheeks; he refused to believe he couldn't be coaxed!

So after the carousel started to turn slowly, he found that the ride was not scary at all, but rather incredibly gentle.

Jiang Zhuochen couldn't think of anything to be afraid of. He closed his eyes, gripped the pole in front of him tightly, and started shouting, "Ah! How terrifying! I'm afraid of heights!"

Xu Xing initially thought the ride was too childish, and it felt strange for a grown man like him to be playing it, so he sat on the inside to cover his face. Unexpectedly, as soon as the ride started, he heard an affected voice next to him.

The melody is melodious and captivating.

He glanced at the ground subconsciously, then turned his head with a complicated expression to see what trick the other person was up to.

Jiang Zhuochen closed his eyes and buried his head in the back of the hand gripping the bar, while reaching his other hand towards Xu Xing. "No, I'm so dizzy, I'm going to fall."

Xu Xing stared at the outstretched hand and felt a strange urge to laugh. He neither reached out nor spoke.

Jiang Zhuochen waved for a long time but Xu Xing didn't respond. He secretly rubbed the corner of his eye with the back of his hand, successfully making himself red.

After the carousel stopped, he pitifully complained, "Why are you ignoring me?"

Jiang Zhuochen didn't open his eyes the whole time, so Xu Xing openly saw every single one of his little actions. He didn't expose him, saying, "The music was too loud, I didn't hear it. If you're scared, let's not play and find another one."

Could the music be louder than his shouting?

Jiang Zhuochen didn't believe it. "But this place is so beautiful. It would be such a shame if we didn't see it while we were having fun."

Xu Xing asked, "So?"

The next batch of passengers had already come in and chosen their seats. Jiang Zhuochen and Xu Xing were standing face to face when he saw a young couple sitting down next to Xu Xing.

"So I want to play it again!"

This time, he learned from his mistake, consulted with passersby, and quickly bought two tickets to get in.

"Aren't you scared?" Xu Xing asked, puzzled. What was the point of howling again?

Jiang Zhuochen remained silent. He walked slowly with his hands clasped, and only when the person, unaware of what was happening, sat down did he follow suit, putting his arm around the other person's waist and straddling him.

He buried his head in Xu Xing's shoulder, leaving only his eyes visible. "This way, you won't be afraid."

His mouth was pressed against his suit jacket, making his voice sound muffled. His breath seeped through the fabric, and Xu Xing could feel his skin burning.

He moved his throat, and after a long while, he finally hummed in response.

indifferent.

Jiang Zhuochen made this assessment.

After the carousel started spinning again, he observed the young couple in front of him, and only after they had spun around a large circle did he finally hug Xu Xing tightly, albeit a beat too late.

Taking advantage of Xu Xing's blindness, Jiang Zhuochen wore a bitter and resentful expression, while speaking with genuine emotion, "Can't it just turn straight? This up-and-down motion is really scary."

Xu Xing turned around abruptly, only to catch a glimpse of the other person's momentary panic before he suddenly pressed his face completely against the other person's shoulder.

"Ouch, I feel so dizzy, can I lean against you for a while?"

Xu Xing couldn't hold back any longer. He coughed, propping his hand up, and lowered his head to hide the smile welling up in his eyes.

Until the end, Xu Xing composed himself and reverted to his usual indifferent, businesslike demeanor.

Jiang Zhuochen touched his nose, abruptly changing the subject. "Let's go, this is really not fun, let's go play that."

The vertical drop of drop towers is generally terrifying, and ordinary people wouldn't dare to try it. Jiang Zhuochen, however, wasn't afraid, after all, he was someone who could fly on a sword.

But when the seat comes to a complete stop in mid-air, motionless, it's not quite the same as flying on a sword. It's unbearable, heart-pounding, and filled with the fear of not knowing when you'll fall.

This time he wasn't faking it; he genuinely had a fear of heights.

He reached out and grabbed Xu Xing's wrist, stubbornly saying, "If you're scared, hold on tight to me. I won't let go of you."

Xu Xing hesitated for a moment and slowly turned his hand back to clench it. Jiang Zhuochen didn't react at all when their palms, one cold and one hot, touched. Instead, he clenched his hand even tighter.

The falling speed was faster than Jiang Zhuochen had imagined; the veins on his hand gripping Xu Xing were bulging. The chair swayed halfway down and then bounced back up, making him dizzy. He wondered wildly if he would pull out a sword and scare the passersby unconscious if he were thrown off.

Amidst lingering gasps, he slumped against Xu Xing, his legs giving way, and forced a pale smile. "Exciting, wasn't it? Feeling any better now?"

Xu Xing was indeed in a good mood. This person acted so convincingly when he was acting, but when he was genuinely scared, he kept quiet. "It's alright."

"Okay?" That means it's not good.

Jiang Zhuochen stomped her leg, took his arm and continued walking forward. When they passed the haunted house, she remembered Zhao Li's instructions.

The other person said that haunted houses are the most convenient places to create a scary atmosphere. They said that the two of them could huddle together for warmth and end up having children together, let alone getting angry.

His disdainful expression at the time was so blatant that Zhao Li couldn't stop laughing. Now, he only paused slightly before decisively walking forward.

What a joke! He's an exorcist, so it would be ridiculous for him to be afraid of man-made ghosts.

There was a house around the corner, and it was quite lively with people coming and going. Jiang Zhuochen stopped and looked up, managing to make out that it was a project called the 'Five Senses Lab'.

Adhering to the principle that more people can't go wrong, Jiang Zhuochen cheered up. "Let's go have some fun."

"Hello, welcome to the Five Senses Lab." The staff warmly greeted them and led them inside.

The two followed the staff through a long corridor to a rest room, where the staff handed them two blindfolds. "From now on, you will need to wear blindfolds. Other staff will guide you through the experiment."

Jiang Zhuochen pinched the eye patch. "So mysterious."

"Are you scared again?"

Xu Xing observed Jiang Zhuochen's expression and noticed that the man stopped pulling at his blindfold in an extremely unnatural manner, and then looked terrified.

"Yeah, I'm afraid of the dark." After putting on the blindfold, he groped his way to Xu Xing's side and gripped the other's arm tightly. "You can't leave me, you know?"

Xu Xing yanked the blindfold down to his nose, meeting those innocent, bewildered eyes that showed no fear whatsoever.

The warmth of the fingers made Jiang Zhuochen's nose tingle. He lowered his head and didn't notice that he had brushed against the other person's knuckles.

"what?"

"...It's alright, let's go."

Xu Xing helped him put on the blindfold and followed the staff's directions forward. After a soft click of the doorknob, a sudden burst of noise engulfed the two of them.

Screams and laughter mingled and surged as the two weaved through the noise and settled on either side of a long table.

The staff explained, "This level is a tactile experiment. In front of you is a black box. You need to reach through the holes in the curtain to touch the same object and guess the correct answer to advance to the next level."

Jiang Zhuochen tentatively moved his fingers, slowly touching the curtain, and pulled it open a crack to reach inside.

The box was bigger than expected. Jiang Zhuochen waved his hand left and right, but didn't touch anything. Undeterred, he reached out and felt every nook and cranny, then spoke into the air, "Sister, did you hide something?"

The staff member standing to the side smiled but said nothing, holding a soft, pink object in his hand.

"Hmm?" Jiang Zhuochen's hand suddenly encountered resistance. He quickly gripped it, and the 'item' was left to his own hands to knead.

The slight combination of fleshiness and firmness allowed his fingertips to glide over a smooth surface, then he pinched it, muttering to himself, "Such a realistic feel, like I've thrown a hand inside?"

The hand spread its five fingers and enveloped his palm, pressing the thumb against the web of his hand. A deep voice, devoid of mockery, came from the front.

"fool."

Jiang Zhuochen retorted, "Then why aren't you moving? How can you blame me for that?"

He tried to pull his hand away, but Xu Xing pulled him harder, pressing his palm against the back of his hand and leading him to an uneven spot.

The warmth of the back of his hand mingled with the coolness of his palm, and with every movement, his pressed palms shifted slightly. Jiang Zhuochen felt a strange unease, and could only concentrate intently on what was in his palm.

The rough, slightly prickly texture, with its deep and shallow grooves, was all too familiar to Jiang Zhuochen.

Just as he was about to say the word 'tree bark,' something soft and sticky fell from above their clasped hands and bound them tightly together.

"Hiss..." Jiang Zhuochen pulled his hands out, and the things binding them were stretched out as well.

After getting used to the cold, he pinched it with his side hand, and the elastic and smooth texture exceeded his expectations.

"What's this?"

Jiang Zhuochen pulled hard, tearing apart the part that was wrapped around Xu Xing, making a soft 'pop' sound as it separated.

Xu Xing rubbed his fingertips together, the lingering warmth spreading across his damp skin, making his heart itch. "This should be an algae toy."

Jiang Zhuochen pinched and rolled the dough, "An octopus-shaped algae toy?"

"Congratulations on your correct answer." The staff member's voice rang out at the right time, taking the pink octopus from Jiang Zhuochen's hand. "Next, we will proceed with the second olfactory experiment."

"It's easy." Jiang Zhuochen stood up, propped himself up on the table, waved his hands, and grabbed Xu Xing, pulling him behind him. "Let's go, next level."

The faint itch intensified, and Xu Xing paused almost imperceptibly, taking the hand that was resting on his neck.

"Um."

The room became noticeably quieter after the second door closed, and staff brought out two oxygen masks.

"The fragrances inhaled by both parties will be cross-mixed in the duct. After removing the mask, you need to be able to identify the blended fragrance notes simultaneously to pass the test."

Jiang Zhuochen took a deep breath, and then took several more breaths in fear that he wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Only when he had a vague idea of ​​what it was did he hand it back to the staff.

The two were led to a row of test tubes. The intertwined fragrance was pungent and acrid. Jiang Zhuochen felt dizzy after smelling it for a short while and held onto Xu Xing's arm.

The taste that had just been in his mind vanished, and Jiang Zhuochen wrinkled his nose in a daze. "I've forgotten it all."

Xu Xing took a step back the moment he smelled the pungent aroma, leaving Jiang Zhuochen to do as he pleased, and then asked, "What should we do?"

Jiang Zhuochen stopped where he was, thought for a moment, and pulled Xu Xing back a few steps. "Don't move."

He tentatively took a step forward, and when he estimated that the distance was about right, he leaned his head in without thinking.

Unable to see, he lost his composure and his lips bumped hard against something soft.

The hot, humid air exploded in his ears, and Xu Xing's heart skipped a beat.

In this darkness where his senses were amplified to an infinite degree, he could even clearly capture the profile of that person, which was only millimeters apart, with a kind of natural illusion, perfectly and naturally attached to his face.

A note from the author:

His acting is terrible, but he's great at flirting.